Tim Draper

A weekly listing of local events compiled by the SoCal Tech Calendar (http://www.socaltechcalendar.com). Wednesday Zone Club The quarterly networking meeting of the Zone Club, with a panel on fostering entrepreneurship through good works, investment and support of education and nonprofits. Panelists are Matt Miller, nationally syndicated columnist, NPR commentator and co-host of "Left Right Center"; Steve Soboroff, senior advisor to Mayor Riordan and L.A.

In their biggest show of force to date, 400 members of Los Angeles' high-tech community turned out for the inaugural meeting of Zone Club, a group that aims to help Southern California become another Silicon Valley. But some of the sentiments expressed at the event, held Wednesday night at Ciudad restaurant in downtown L.A. and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, underscored the amount of work it will take to achieve that goal.

In the deserted, weed-covered lots of Los Angeles' urban core, Tim Draper sees fertile ground for a thriving high-tech community. And Silicon Valley venture capitalist's vision for a high-technology center is as broad as the 19-square-mile area--from South-Central to East L.A. to Dodger Stadium--that he's targeting. In this unlikely area, Draper is leading an effort to invest at least $25 million of federal funds--and perhaps an equal amount of private capital--in high-tech start-ups.

SACRAMENTO - Judging by your emails, many readers agree with me that a proposed ballot measure to split California into six states is crazy. "Ridiculous. " "Laughable. " Also, you concur that this bird will never fly. Not only would the plan need to be approved by California voters, Congress and the president would have to sign off, too. "Do you really think Democrats would ever allow anything to disrupt the 55-electoral-vote advantage they get every four years?" from California, reader Kurt wrote.

Joel Boblit started buying and selling action figures on EBay in 1997. This year, he expects to sell $3 million worth of G.I. Joes, Transformers and Zoids. That's good news for EBay Inc., right? Wrong. Boblit is on the front line in the coming clash between two Internet titans that are winning customers and making money on the Net. Boblit uses EBay, the world's biggest Internet auction site, only for clearing out inventory from his online store.

You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And you don't mess around with Jim. --Singer Jim Croce, 1972 * School voucher strategists are messin' with Gov. Gray Davis. Going right at him. Hard jabs to the gut. It's an eye-opening tactic. You'd call it awfully risky, attacking a highly popular governor. Except that the voucher folks probably figure they have little to lose, given the polls.

Edward "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak came to mind last week when I read that the school voucher campaign was dangling big prizes to lure volunteer help. The Times reported that the Proposition 38 effort--financed largely by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper--is offering bounties to people who recruit the most supporters. The rewards include 38 iMac computers, five $2,000 shopping sprees at Macy's, and the grand prize: a Hawaii vacation for four. Total value of all these inducements: $73,200.

November 15, 2005 | Jamie Court, JAMIE COURT, author of "Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom And What You Can Do About It" " (Tarcher/Penguin, 2004), is president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger is making a high-profile trade trip to China this week. It's supposed to benefit you and me by opening up Chinese markets for California goods. But the guest list is a dead giveaway: Of the 80 businessmen, government officials and others accompanying the governor, about two dozen are big-bucks Schwarzenegger supporters who have together contributed more than $2.5 million to his campaign committees.